Browsing Tag

garage rock

Rick Shaffer gave psych the blues in his latest garage rock hit, Bogalusa

Posted on 10 October 2023

Rick Shaffer gave psych the blues in his latest LP, Sleeping Dog, featuring the standout single, Bogalusa, which allows garage rock and 60s RnB to converge to create drippings of nostalgia; fans of The Stooges will want to savour every distorted with vintage glamour drop.

12 solo albums into his illustrious career, and it is clear to see that the guitarist and songwriter is far from fresh out of ideas. The Teenage Kicks-reminiscent raucous power pop panache lends itself effortlessly well to the grooves and hooks which make Bogalusa such a scintillatingly electric ride through the golden eras of music.

Wild and hypnotic in equal measure, the guitar hook and riff-rife euphonic escapade is as close as you can get to sonic pornography.

Bogalusa was officially released on September 23; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The blues rock renegade Chance Brown supercharged the airwaves with his electrifying single, Come See ‘Bout Me

Posted on 26 August 2023

The Victoria BC roots rock renegade Chance Brown delivered a bluesy bluegrass invitation you won’t want to turn down with his latest single, Come See ‘Bout Me.

Don’t let the acoustic guitar-wielding cover art fool you. Come See ‘Bout Me is more electrifying than anything Jack White has crafted in his entire career and just as rich in mainstream appeal thanks to the garage rock infusion. The track is so much more than a live wire, it is more reactive than the Chernobyl power plant at the point of explosion.

Between the harmonica blasts, the lap steel tones and the tightly controlled chaos of the choruses, Chance Brown succeeded in paying homage to the traditions of blues and ensuring that those aural traditions have a place in the contemporary music industry.

After spending his life in unwavering devotion to honing the different elements of song-crafting, Chance Brown has polished his talents and maintained his passion, initially ignited by the likes of Justin Townes Earle and Gord Downie, enabling him to become one of the most scintillating raconteurs of truths in any town.

Come See ‘Bout Me was officially released on the 18th of August; stream it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The 60s and 70s have swung back with riotous force in At the Arcade’s scuzzed-up slice of garagey alt-rock, With You

Posted on 3 April 2023

At the Arcade served up a sleazily scuzzed slice of garagey alt-rock for their latest single, With You, which puts the emotion into as much overdrive as the riffs. Somewhere between the 60s and the 80s, the riotously eclectic outfit finds its distinctive-by-design prodigal edge that will leave you ricocheting between past eras while affirming that THIS is the sound of the future.

Ensuring that the bouncy and brashy chorus guitars are just as infectious as the salaciously sweet vocals, With You is a track you definitely won’t mind tattooed across your temporal lobe. The Rotherham indie rock aficionados have been revered for their superlatively high-energy shows since 2017. It is about time the airwaves got a taste of their harmony-heavy fervour.

With You was officially released on March 24th. Check it out on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jake Kulak leaves nostalgia in the past with his stadium-filling Garage Rock/00s Indie Amalgam, Caution Tape

Posted on 24 February 2023

Garage rock and 00s indie converged in the latest radio-ready single from the breakthrough artist Jake Kulak & the Modern Vandals, who will undoubtedly reach even greater heights in their already accoladed career when this riff-soaked euphonic masterpiece hits the airwaves.

Attaching the word masterpiece to a review may sound like a hyperbolic stretch, but there’s no exaggerating the infectious energy in the vintage angular guitar melodies that pop even harder than when the Strokes hit the fretboard.

Caution Tape is the perfect introduction to Kulak’s signature stadium-filling guitar chops, which flood the track around the lyrics that lick resonance into the mix by alluding to the lengths we go to in a bid to evade stagnation.

So far in his career, the Connecticut-hailing artist has toured across the states and beyond, tearing up stages in Norway and Sydney, and picked up multiple awards and nominations along the way. On the basis of Caution Tape, it is all too easy to see why.

Caution Tape will officially release on February 24th. Hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Knottie Boys released the ultimate punk-rock chagin soundtrack with ‘Sadsquatch’

Posted on 16 January 2023

Taken from their garagey punk-rock EP, A Face Fulla Dirt, the standout single, Sadsquatch, from The Knottie Boys is a melodically hook-rife exposition of reclaimed shame. By allowing the chagrin-deep lyrics to unravel as a series of confessions rooted in quirky indignity, Sadsquatch projects intimate disclosures in the same breath as lamenting about public knowledge of them.

It was an ingeniously bold move from the New York-hailing fourpiece, who have released two EPs and a studio album since forming in 2019. By pulling influence from CBGB headliners to folk-punk to the percussive fills of marching bands to the acts who made the 2007 Warped Tour infamous, the bitterly sweet powerhouse has carved out a niche and filled it to precision.

If Neutral Milk Hotel formed as a punk-rock outfit, they’d boast the same appeal as The Knottie Boys, who have exactly what it takes to be one of the premier NYC punk bands in 2023. Watch this space before they pour ennuitic resonance into it.

A Face Fulla Dirt is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

OneSelf Featuring Mario Deschenes, orchestrated an electrifying rock n roll revival with “( Here ‘N’ There ) ‘N Anywhere”

Posted on 8 December 2022
OneSelf Featuring Mario Deschenes

“( Here ‘N’ There ) ‘N Anywhere” is the latest simmering feat of groove-heavy rock n roll from OneSelf Featuring Mario Deschenes. With the pop motifs beside the bluesy piano riffs and plenty of overdrive behind the raucous guitar lines, it is hard not to get swept up in the upraising momentum of the infectious earworm led by Mario Deschenes.

With touches of The Beatles written into the production and an element of 70s era Elton John in the frenetically galvanising hit, any true rock n roll fan won’t be able to resist the garagey electrifying energy within ( Here ‘N’ There ) ‘N Anywhere, which contains equal parts swagger and soul.

Listen to Here ‘N’ There ) ‘N Anywhere here.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Siggy are harbingers of future in their proto-punk comeback album, 25th Century

Posted on 2 November 2022

Featuring a cover of Echo and the Bunnymen’s Lips Like Sugar which contains all of the salacious murky atmosphere of the original, it is safe to say that Siggy’s comeback album, 25th Century, arrived with a proto-punk bang.

After making their debut in 1999 with the album, Harlow’s Girl, which carried a Crampsy sense of killer off-kilter volition, 25th Century had a lot to live up to, but the rhythmic pulse is strong across the 10 singles which traverse the themes of hope, fury, and the rank psychic pathology of the 21st century.

The gothy Echo and the Bunnymen vibes carry across more than just the cover, along with hints of Television and bites of Splitter-Esque punk. But for me, the highlight had to be the title single, which truly embraces the stifled with strange nature of the 21st century while throwing back to the time when guitarists knew how to lick right into your soul. “If there’s going to be a 25th century there has to be 21st century morality” is a lyric I will never forget.

25th Century is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast
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DC’s 90s indie rock renegades, Spunk Davies, delivered a fuzzed-up blast from the past with ‘High Tide’

Posted on 24 October 2022

Almost 30 years after their inception, the Washington D.C.-transpiring fuzzed-up rock n roll renegades, Spunk Davies, are launching their album, Your Turn to Scheme: Best of Spunk Davies 1993-97. Comprising of freshly mastered hits and material that has never before hit streaming platforms.

The seminal scuzzy indie rock meets garage rock track, High Tide, is the perfect introduction to their relic of a release that swarms with mid-alt-90s nostalgia and stays true to their dive bar-esque brand of hard, fast, and loud indie that has filled iconic venues, such as the 9:30 and the Black Cat in DC.

Their sound is one that countless bands are keen to derivatively assimilate, but notably, there’s nothing like the real deafening deal that Spunk Davies assertedly delivered in the infectious energy of High Tide. If you remembered them from the 90s, prepare to fall back in love with their erratic riff-gasmic frenetic edge. If, like me, Spunk Davies are new to your ears, set your expectation for one of the most authentic indie acts you’ve heard in the last decade.

The official music video for High Tide premiered on October 15th. Catch it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Prchr. hit ‘ROCK BOTTOM’ in their grungy alt-rock hit

Posted on 21 October 2022
https://soundcloud.com/prchrmusic/rock-bottom/s-WeeqvqI4NDD?si=9c7721f839434b8083c6e7524e6ae17c&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

The Gold Coast, Australia-hailing artist Prchr. dialled his amps up to 11 and channelled scathing garagey filth into his grungy alt-rock hit, ROCK BOTTOM, taken from his ONLY CHILD EP, which explores themes of rejection, denial, betrayal, defiance, and loneliness.

The riff-heavy seminal single carries fleeting reminiscences to Kyuss and Nirvana, but the dirty hooks ensnare you into the resonant dejection like no other. With his tendency to meld everything from psych to blues into his gnarled and heavily distorted sound that comes at you through multiple amps to achieve that almost irreplicable live sound, prchr has pushed his sonic signature into stormy unchartered waters. Join him.

ROCK BOTTOM will drop on October 21st. Hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tommy Freed and the Sound laments his ‘Waste of a Summer’ in his surfy no-wave anthem

Posted on 8 October 2022

The solo artist Tommy Freed and the Sound treated the airwaves to another off-kilter burst of violent optimism with his latest single, Waste of a Summer. The high-energy amalgam of sunny surf rock, garagey power pop, no-wave and ska is a subversive sonic palette for the titular entropy, but we certainly aren’t complaining.

The anthemically discordant hit perfectly encapsulates the bitter regret which creeps in with the colder weather that allows you to retrospectively lament your summer existence being leagues apart from the narrations in the plastic pop tracks. Ironically, Waste of a Summer is just as catchy as those try-hard hits endeavour to be; better yet, it doesn’t leave you with any FOMO.

Waste of a Summer was officially released on September 22nd. It is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast